An epidemic called Facebook – Social media negative effects

Seven years back, on my way to South Korea, I was waiting in the stopover Hong Kong airport for the connecting flight. There I saw a young south-east Asian couple sitting in front of me. The girl was lying on the bench. Her head propped over the boy’s lap, and legs hanging loosely over the bench’s hand-rest. The boy was caressing the girl’s hair with the gentleness reflecting the warmth of the young love.

They were showing all signs so common among young people in love. Both were smiling time and again, their eyes glimmering, face twitching with nervous excitement in a way that indicated that they were completely oblivious to the world around them -completely absorbed in their own world.

But in this case they were absorbed not in each others’ world. In stead they were lost in their completely immersed into the screens of their smartphones.

I looked at them with awe. For this was something very strange to me. Something I’d never seen before. Seven year hence, seeing people lost in their smartphones, is now a common thing in our country, hardly a thing to be surprised of.

Social media negative effects.

Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, and many other so called social apps have made us ‘unsocial’ in a most ironical way. Earlier it was bad manners to take calls during a social gathering. Today, even in a group, seeing some heads immersed in the so-called smart phones is an acceptable occurrence. With friends or family, one can easily spot a head or two, completely engrossed in a ‘game’ or ‘social app’. A trend that is really common in the most worrying way possible these days.

And ‘relationships’ are the biggest victim of these trends.

‘Facebook Induced Jealousy’ is no more a concept term. Facebook aimed at staying in touch with our friends. But now it has become a tool to snoop into each other’s lives. Recently there is an increase in the number of cases where couples have often come up with Facebook and whatsapp details to prove that there’s a trouble in their paradise.

Whatsapp has taken snooping to the next level where “last seen status” and “blue ticks” have compromised the details of our daily routine by putting up our activity stats on show for everyone to see. ‘You were awake till two in the night, what were you doing?’, ‘You read my message, but didn’t reply. Why?’, ‘Why you have hidden your last seen setting, are you trying to hide from me?’ -such questions are no more a rarity to find.

Then there is a phenomenon of modern day breakups. Who of us haven’t experienced this? One of the most traumatizing event of youth was breakup, which would tear our heart and soul at such tender age. But at least it was a private event in the past, something which only our friends and close acquaintances knew of.

But now breakups are being done on Facebook, in full view of public, as if it was a show. To make the matters worse, one can easily see their ex’s getting on with life quickly, even getting hooked up with someone else. I can’t even remember now how many cases of suicides I’ve read in the newspaper when a boy or girl posted this on their Facebook walls and the other person just couldn’t take the mockery of their feelings.

This is just sad. Sadder than anything else out there.

We are a species who have different parts in our lives. We are mature in front of our parents, funny among our friends and romantic with our lovers. But the minute by minute updates are merging all these faces together. There was always some overlap among all these faces we had, but now the boundaries have just vanished. And for some people it is just too much to bear.

And what about our own happiness, and satisfaction -the relationships that we have with our own selves. Stability in this is the root of stability in all other relationships?

The constant stream of photos and status makes us believe that everyone else is happy but us. They are having better lives. Better friends. They are the ones with real happiness and real friends. They are the one who party more, enjoy more, not I. My life is pathetic, inferior than them.

Brain scan studies have proved that one hour of Facebook daily can reduce our happiness level significantly. We can end up depressed, under confident and extremely self conscious of our own shortcomings. We become more moody and sensitive. Our patience level significantly reduced. And these are linked to the sudden outbursts which is becoming our second nature.

Remember when we were kid and there were serious concerns about children become moody who used to play excessive video games? The current trend has the same root, but ten times graver impact because when it comes to smart phones, there is nothing that can be called excessive. They have gamified our lives 24×7.

Where are we going with all this? A life marked by endless feed made up of twenty seconds attention span before we jump towards next update. Ignoring our real lives and getting lost in how many ‘likes’ we got since we last put up a photo or update. A life that gives too much weight-age to Facebook friends, people whose emotional attachment is limited to two dimensions of ‘likes’ and ‘shares’, rather than real friends who can really make a difference, in our lives?

Facebook was made to communicate. A tool to bring people closer. But like an errand servant it has take over the masters. Our attention and time being the greatest casualty.

. . .

Note: If you have reached here, till the end of this NINE HUNDRED AND FIFTY ONE WORDS ESSAY, then it means that your ability to long-read is still in-tact. It’s a good sign, a quality that is becoming rarer day by day.

Technology has wrecked our lives because we have become careless drivers. We have lost control of it, if I can say that. What your articles details is truly the sad state of affairs today, but can we blame it entirely on technology?

Sure Sunaina, technology is one of the factors. However, it exacerbates the effects of other factors in addition to giving rise to new problems. For example, a person suffering from low self-esteem gets even worse as a result of networking on social media (Psychologists say that on social media, a person gets used to measure one’s self-worth by other people’s assessment).

Hi. Emotional issues? I hope nothing serious. It is a dichotomy for the writers, that when we are down and feeling bad we stop writing, but in the end it is the writing that can lifts our spirits, more effectively and quickly than anything else. It works for me, I hope you find the same in it (or anything similar).

Thanks a lot Raj. .. Yes, I also pondered over what is the way out.. i have immensely reduced my FB and whatsapp consumption.. i’m still experimenting.. hopefully it’s sustainable in the long term. . thanks a lot for visiting and sharing your thoughts..

Well said Nitin. Nowadays more people are addicted to it.
There is a sloka “Karaagre Vasate Lakssmih Karamadhye Sarasvati Karamuule Tu Govindah Prabhaate Karadarshanam ” It means that : At the Top of the Hand (i.e. Palm) Dwell Devi Lakshmi and at the Middle of the Hand Dwell Devi Saraswati,2: At the Base of the Hand Dwell Sri Govinda; Therefore one should Look at one’s Hands in the Early Morning and contemplate on Them.
But now the same sloka is replaced with “At the Top of the Hand (i.e. Palm) Dwell smartphone and at the Middle of the Hand Dwell Smartphone
2: At the Base of the Hand Dwell Smartphone.
Therefore one should Look at Smartphone in the Early Morning.Such a sad state nowadays.

IIt’s true we’re too into our gadgets these days and it is coming in the way of our daily relationships.

But lately, I also find that several of these platforms are turning out to be more useful than they have ever been. Neighbourhood pages seem to have become a place where everybody reports things from fires to burglaries to every other thing happening around us. They’ve also become a place for local recommendations and advice too.

Whatsapp groups have become a great way to put together to discuss things and put together events; especially because everybody has so much going on, when they get time, their put in their two cents and others read them when they get time to do so.

I think now is the time to talk about using these platforms with more responsibility.

Very relevant article Nitin. What annoys me is that social media has enticed people of all age groups not only the youngsters. Now, grandparents, parents and children have their own phones for entertainment.